78 Iowa 642 | Iowa | 1889
The only question to be determined upon this appeal is whether, under the evidence, the court was warranted in finding that- the hay was sold to a partnership of which the defendant was at the time a member. It appears from the evidence that the defendant was the owner of a farm in Hancock county, which was improved to some extent, and upon which he had teams, farming utensils, a barn and machinery necessary for pressing hay. In the spring of 1883, one T. M. Brown was living on the farm, and an oral contract was at that time entered into between the defendant and Brown by which Brown was to have the use of the land, teams and implements, including the machinery for pressing hay, and to furnish all seed for planting crops, and do all the' labor, and each one of the parties was to have one-half of the net proceeds of the enterprise. If this were all of the contract, there would have been no partnership ; there would have been merely the relation of landlord and tenant between the parties. If an agreement of that kind were to be held by this court to be a partnership it would be a great surprise to' thousands of landlords and tenants in this state; but there is evidence in the ■case which tends to show that more than this was contemplated by the parties. Baker was a resident of the city of Des Moines, and there was some correspondence between the parties, and he prepared a written contract and sent it to Brown. The writing was not signed. In
Britt, July 19, 1884.
Notice: The firm of Baker & Brown has been dissolved by mutual consent.
“[Signed.] Geo. 0. Baker,
“T. M. Brown.”
There can be no doubt that if the plaintiff had sold his hay to Brown before July 19, 1884, Baker would have been liable for the purchase as a partner. The question is, was there such a change in the business after that date as to exonerate Baker from liability to third persons dealing with Brown, without notice of the-dissolution, or rather, was there evidence from which the court may have fairly found as a conclusion of law that Baker continued to be liable as a partner ? Upon this question there is evidence that Brown, after the formal dissolution, used his own name in transacting the business in which both were interested. The notice of dissolution was not published, and the plaintiff, when he sold the hay for which he claims a judgment, had no-knowledge of it. We think it is fair to say that, aside-
Affirmed.